Court questions Gujarat on pollution

A letter from a man over official apathy towards pollution by industries in east Ahmedabad was Monday turned into a public interest suit by the Gujarat High Court, which questioned the government over the allegation.

The court issued notices to the government, the State Human Rights Commission, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) on the issue.

A bench of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Justice K.M. Thaker acted on its own initiative on the letter written by Alpesh Bhavsar and treated the communication as a public interest litigation (PIL).

The bench asked the government and others to file affidavits and posted the matter for hearing Jan 24.

Based on a report in a newspaper on the alleged illegal disposal of chemical waste by industrial units in the city, Bhavsar wrote that such disposal endangered the lives of people.

Bhavsar’s letter said that the civic body and the pollution control board had failed in discharging their duties.

‘It’s the duty of the AMC and the GPCB to take action against industrial units haphazardly releasing chemical water in residential areas,’ he claimed.